


goldfish

by werpiper



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Crack, Drowning, M/M, Transformation, as are kisses, goldfish are magical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 16:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3656676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/werpiper/pseuds/werpiper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a bedtime story for good little Nwalings <3</p>
            </blockquote>





	goldfish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blue_Sparkle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Sparkle/gifts), [Thorinsmut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorinsmut/gifts), [InjaMorgan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InjaMorgan/gifts).



Once upon a time there was a little fish named Nori.

He was nominally a goldfish, though people sometimes said he was really brown and he insisted he was actually copper.

Anyway as you know goldfish aren't called that because of their color, but because they can turn things into gold. So dwarves think they are very special, though they also wonder if they actually exist, because such a thing is not chemically plausible at all.

One morning, after a night spent up arguing with friends at the tavern about goldfish, Dwalin decided he would go fishing and see if he could find one. His brother Balin thought this was very silly, but at least fishing might bring in some food. He gave Dwalin a little boat, packed some meals, and sent him on his way.

Dwalin was a terrible boater. The oars made his hands sore, and when he tried to set the sails he lost them like sheets off a clothesline. He ate his lunch, and then decided he'd have just as much luck fishing right there as anywhere.

He was also terrible at fishing. He cut his fingertips on the hooks, and then once when he thought he'd caught *something* it turned out to be an old, soggy boot. He sighed, ate his dinner, and decided to rest for awhile.

It was very nice on the boat. It was a warm summer night with a full moon. The waves made gentle noises all around, and the boat rocked slowly like a cradle. Dwalin looked up at the moon and let his hand trail into the cool, sweet water.  
At midnight, the moon began to turn dark.

First it looked like a shadow, black on the moon's pale circle. But when the change had come over the entire moon, it flared into a new color -- red and dimly gleaming, like fire-embers on the hearth. Then suddenly, all around Dwalin, the water was alive with bright fish! They sculled the surface with their fins and stuck their heads out to look at the moon. The waves they made caught the light and turned the water into a web of reflected gold.

Dwalin sat up to look, and then like a dreamer he stood and walked to the prow of his boat to get a better view. It was the most beautiful and strangest thing he had ever seen. But because Dwalin was terrible at boating, he leaned too far to one side and went SPLASH down into the water.

Nori, who for a goldfish was very kind, said "We have to help him!" because Dwalin, being a dwarf, sank like a stone. Nobody came at first. So Nori, who was only little, followed Dwalin down into the depths. He knew that if he kissed Dwalin, he could turn him into gold, but was not clear if Dwalin would survive that. So he didn't. But at least he followed him, singing encouragement and hope in fish-language as they went deep.

The other goldfish heard and were ashamed of themselves, putting moon-watching ahead of saving a life. One by one they followed Nori and Dwalin down to the bottom of the water where there is no light at all. And by dozens and scores and hundreds and thousands, they pushed their heads under Dwalin's body and bore him back up to the surface.

The moon had gone back to white, whatever strange magic being gone.

Dwalin gasped as he reached the surface. It was like coming out of Mirkwood when he could breathe cold moonlit air. He scrabbled at his boat and the fish all helped him keep it upright as he scrambled in.

When he was done coughing he turned to look out over the water, and only one goldfish had stayed. Everyone else knew they had done what they could, but Nori wanted to make sure Dwalin was all right.

Dwalin was not very clear on what had happened at all, but there was the prettiest copper fish watching him from the water, and he was completely drenched. He called down, "Thank you, because I think you have saved me tonight."

Nori understood a little of the air-speaking, so he swam closer. He could see that Dwalin was breathing and safe and he was very glad. He wondered if Dwalin would like him to change something into gold, too, for a souvenir.

Dwalin wasn't thinking about his fishing-mission at all. He was only glad to be alive. He kissed his own fingers in thanks and reached down to give that kiss to the fish. Nori arched up out of the water to press himself into Dwalin's hand, and when they touched, he turned into a dwarf!

Fortunately he was still quite little and Dwalin had no trouble hauling him out of the water and into the boat, because Nori would surely have sunk otherwise. They sat in the moonlight and dripped at each other.

'Well, this will make a tale,' Dwalin thought, though he didn't feel any wiser on turning-into-gold subjects at all.

Then suddenly Nori leaned forwards and kissed Dwalin back. He had never thought about being a dwarf, or really anything except for a goldfish -- but kissing with lips is really much nicer than kissing when you are a fish. They kissed for a long time in the boat, with the waves lapping around them, and then they fell asleep.

In the morning Nori rowed the boat back to Dwalin's home (having been a fish he was very competent at anything near to water). Dwalin introduced Nori to his brother, and they set up housekeeping there and lived happily ever after.


End file.
